mL to Cups Converter
Convert milliliters to US cups (mL to cups) for recipes and drinks
1 US cup = 236.5882365 mL, so 1 mL = 0.00422675 US cups. To convert mL to cups, divide the milliliters by 236.59. A metric cup is 250 mL.
Milliliters to Cups (US) converter
LiveUS customary cup = 236.59 mL (8 US fl oz), used in American recipes.
- 1 cm³
- 0.20288414 tsp
- 0.067628045 tbsp
- 0.061023744 in³
- 0.033814023 fl oz
How to convert milliliters to cups
This converter uses the US customary cup, which is exactly 8 US fluid ounces. A US fluid ounce is 29.5735295625 mL, so a cup is 8 × 29.5735295625 = 236.5882365 mL. Divide any milliliter amount by that number to get US cups: 500 mL ÷ 236.5882365 = 2.1134 cups. Liters, pints, quarts and gallons are all on the volume converter.
The trap is that not every cup is the same size. Australia, New Zealand and Canada use a metric cup of 250 mL, about 5.7% larger. US nutrition labels use a rounded legal cup of 240 mL. Old British recipes may mean an imperial cup of about 284 mL. If a recipe comes from outside the US and lists 250 mL as “1 cup”, choose Metric on the Cup switch above, or simply divide by 250. For small amounts, fluid ounces are often clearer; see the cups to fluid ounces converter.
How precise do you need to be? Standard US measuring cups are marked in quarters and thirds, so there is no point converting 180 mL to 0.7608 cups; call it ¾ cup and you are within about 3 mL. For drinks and nutrition, two decimals are plenty. Only lab work or scaled-up commercial recipes justify the full exact factor.
Step by step
- Take the volume in milliliters.
- Divide by 236.5882365 for US cups (or by 250 for metric cups).
- Round to the nearest ¼ or ⅓ cup for cooking.
See it on a scale
Worked examples
100 mL of milk, a 250 mL metric-cup amount and a 500 mL bottle of stock, in US cups.
100 mL ÷ 236.5882365 = 0.42267528 cup
= 0.42267528 cup
250 mL ÷ 236.5882365 = 1.0566882 cup
= 1.0566882 cup
500 mL ÷ 236.5882365 = 2.1133764 cup
= 2.1133764 cup
Why does a nutrition label say 1 cup is 240 mL?
US nutrition labels use a 240 mL cup because FDA labeling rules (21 CFR 101.9) round the cup to 240 mL for serving sizes, 3.41 mL more than the 236.59 mL customary cup.
The rounded “legal cup” makes metric serving sizes neat: ½ cup is 120 mL and ¼ cup is 60 mL, instead of 118.29 mL and 59.15 mL. The difference is 1.44%, far smaller than the error from pouring by eye, so a label serving of 1 cup of juice and a recipe cup are effectively the same amount.
Where it shows is in arithmetic. A 1,000 mL carton holds 4.17 label servings of 1 cup, but 4.23 customary cups. If you are checking a label, divide by 240; if you are cooking from an American recipe, divide by 236.59.
How do you measure mL with US measuring cups and spoons?
Take the largest cup measure that fits, then make up the rest with tablespoons (14.79 mL) and teaspoons (4.93 mL): 100 mL is ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1¼ tsp, within 0.2 mL.
This is the practical answer when a metric recipe meets an American kitchen drawer. Each combination below uses a standard nested set (¼, ⅓, ½ and 1 cup) plus spoons, and stays within about half a milliliter:
| Recipe says | Measure | Actual volume | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 mL | 3 tbsp + 1¼ tsp | 50.5 mL | +0.5 mL |
| 75 mL | ¼ cup + 1 tbsp + ¼ tsp | 75.2 mL | +0.2 mL |
| 100 mL | ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1¼ tsp | 99.8 mL | −0.2 mL |
| 150 mL | ½ cup + 2 tbsp + ½ tsp | 150.3 mL | +0.3 mL |
| 200 mL | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1½ tsp | 199.6 mL | −0.4 mL |
| 300 mL | 1¼ cups + ¾ tsp | 299.4 mL | −0.6 mL |
| 500 mL | 2 cups + 1 tbsp + 2½ tsp | 500.3 mL | +0.3 mL |
Pour liquids into a clear jug when you can, since many US jugs carry a milliliter scale on the far side. The cups and spoons route is for when you only have dry measures, or when the jug is too big to read small amounts accurately.
How can I convert mL to cups in my head?
Divide the milliliters by 240: the result lands about 1.42% below the exact US cup value, close enough for any recipe. So 480 mL comes out as 2 cups, against an exact 2.0288.
| Milliliters | ÷ 240 estimate | Exact US cups |
|---|---|---|
| 100 mL | 0.42 | 0.42 |
| 250 mL | 1.04 | 1.06 |
| 500 mL | 2.08 | 2.11 |
| 1,000 mL | 4.17 | 4.23 |
Two anchors make it even faster:
- 60 mL is about ¼ cup (exactly 59.15 mL), so count quarters: 120 mL ≈ ½ cup and 180 mL ≈ ¾ cup.
- Divide by 250 for rough work. It reads about 5.4% low for US cups, but it is exact for metric-cup recipes.
Going the other way, multiply cups by 240 and you will be about 1.4% high, a gap no measuring cup can show.
mL to US cups conversion chart
Milliliter amounts from a teaspoon-sized splash to a liter, converted to US customary cups at four decimal places.
| Milliliters (mL) | Cups (US) (cup) |
|---|---|
| 5 mL | 0.0211 cup |
| 10 mL | 0.0423 cup |
| 15 mL | 0.0634 cup |
| 25 mL | 0.1057 cup |
| 30 mL | 0.1268 cup |
| 50 mL | 0.2113 cup |
| 60 mL | 0.2536 cup |
| 75 mL | 0.317 cup |
| 80 mL | 0.3381 cup |
| 100 mL | 0.4227 cup |
| 120 mL | 0.5072 cup |
| 125 mL | 0.5283 cup |
| 150 mL | 0.634 cup |
| 175 mL | 0.7397 cup |
| 180 mL | 0.7608 cup |
| 200 mL | 0.8454 cup |
| 225 mL | 0.951 cup |
| 240 mL | 1.0144 cup |
| 250 mL | 1.0567 cup |
| 300 mL | 1.268 cup |
| 350 mL | 1.4794 cup |
| 375 mL | 1.585 cup |
| 400 mL | 1.6907 cup |
| 450 mL | 1.902 cup |
| 500 mL | 2.1134 cup |
| 600 mL | 2.5361 cup |
| 750 mL | 3.1701 cup |
| 1,000 mL | 4.2268 cup |
Milliliters vs cups: what is the difference?
One is an exact metric unit used on labels worldwide; the other is a kitchen measure whose size depends on the country that wrote the recipe.
| Attribute | Milliliters | Cups (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | mL | cup |
| System | Metric | US customary |
| Defined as | 0.001 L | 8 fl oz (236.5882365 mL) |
| One unit equals | 0.0042267528 cup | 236.58824 mL |
| Kind of unit | SI-accepted metric unit; 1 mL is exactly 1 cm³ | US customary kitchen measure, 1/16 of a US gallon |
| Standardized by | BIPM SI Brochure; NIST SP 811 in the US | NIST Handbook 44; FDA 21 CFR 101.9 for the 240 mL label cup |
| Same name, other sizes | None | 240 mL (US legal), 250 mL (metric), 284.13 mL (imperial), 200 mL (Japan) |
| Measured with | Graduated jugs, syringes and lab cylinders | Nested dry cups and spouted liquid cups |
| Where it is used | Recipes, drinks and medicine labels in most countries | Home recipes and cookbooks in the US |
4 key differences
- A US cup contains 236.59 mL, so a volume in milliliters is always a number about 237 times larger than the same volume in cups.
- Milliliters scale in powers of ten, while cups split into halves, thirds and quarters, so a converted amount rarely lands exactly on a cup mark.
- A milliliter is the same volume in every country, but a recipe cup can be 236.59, 240, 250 or 284.13 mL depending on where it was written.
- A syringe can measure a dose as small as 1 mL, while the ¼ cup in a standard set already holds 59.15 mL.
How big is a cup? US, legal, metric and imperial
A cup is 236.59 mL in US recipes, 240 mL on US nutrition labels, 250 mL in metric countries and 284.13 mL in older British recipes. That spread of about 20% is the most common reason a recipe converted from mL turns out slightly off.
| Cup | Milliliters | Cups per liter | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|
| US customary cup | 236.5882 mL | 4.227 cups | US recipes and measuring cups |
| US legal cup | 240 mL | 4.167 cups | US nutrition labels (serving sizes) |
| Metric cup | 250 mL | 4 cups | Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa |
| Imperial cup | 284.1306 mL | 3.52 cups | Older British recipes (½ imperial pint) |
| Japanese cup | 200 mL | 5 cups | Japanese recipes and rice cookers use a smaller 180 mL gō |
mL to cups for recipes: US cups vs metric cups
Exact US cups, the nearest measuring-cup amount in eighths, quarters and thirds, and the equivalent in 250 mL metric cups.
| Milliliters | US cups (exact) | Nearest US measure | Metric cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 mL | 0.127 cups | about ⅛ cup | 0.12 cups |
| 60 mL | 0.254 cups | about ¼ cup | 0.24 cups |
| 80 mL | 0.338 cups | about ⅓ cup | 0.32 cups |
| 100 mL | 0.423 cups | about ½ cup | 0.4 cups |
| 120 mL | 0.507 cups | about ½ cup | 0.48 cups |
| 125 mL | 0.528 cups | about ½ cup | 0.5 cups |
| 150 mL | 0.634 cups | about ⅔ cup | 0.6 cups |
| 180 mL | 0.761 cups | about ¾ cup | 0.72 cups |
| 200 mL | 0.845 cups | about ¾ cup | 0.8 cups |
| 240 mL | 1.014 cups | about 1 cup | 0.96 cups |
| 250 mL | 1.057 cups | about 1 cup | 1 cup |
| 300 mL | 1.268 cups | about 1 ¼ cups | 1.2 cups |
| 350 mL | 1.479 cups | about 1 ½ cups | 1.4 cups |
| 400 mL | 1.691 cups | about 1 ⅔ cups | 1.6 cups |
| 500 mL | 2.113 cups | about 2 ⅛ cups | 2 cups |
| 750 mL | 3.17 cups | about 3 ⅛ cups | 3 cups |
| 1,000 mL | 4.227 cups | about 4 ¼ cups | 4 cups |
Cup fractions in milliliters
Handy when your measuring jug is marked in mL but the recipe asks for cups. A US cup holds exactly 16 US tablespoons; use the tablespoons to teaspoons converter for smaller amounts.
| Cup measure | US cup (mL) | Metric cup (mL) | US tablespoons |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 29.6 mL | 31.2 mL | 2 tbsp |
| ¼ cup | 59.1 mL | 62.5 mL | 4 tbsp |
| ⅓ cup | 78.9 mL | 83.3 mL | 5.33 tbsp |
| ½ cup | 118.3 mL | 125 mL | 8 tbsp |
| ⅔ cup | 157.7 mL | 166.7 mL | 10.67 tbsp |
| ¾ cup | 177.4 mL | 187.5 mL | 12 tbsp |
| 1 cup | 236.6 mL | 250 mL | 16 tbsp |
Does mL to cups work for dry ingredients?
It works for volume, but a cup of a dry ingredient has no fixed weight, so for flour and sugar a gram weight is more reliable than either unit. For liquids such as water, milk, stock or oil, the conversion is exact because milliliters and cups both measure volume. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 g to 150 g depending on whether it is spooned or scooped, which is why many bakers weigh instead. The cups to grams converter gives typical weights by ingredient.
Tips for accurate conversions
- Use a clear liquid measuring jug at eye level for liquids, and nested dry cups leveled off with a knife for dry ingredients.
- Keep one system per recipe. Mixing a 250 mL cup for some ingredients and a 236.59 mL cup for others changes the ratios.
- Small differences rarely matter in soups and sauces, but they do in baking, where a 5.7% error across flour and liquid adds up.
- For bigger volumes, the mL to liters converter keeps everything metric.
Sources and further reading
The standards and references behind the numbers on this page. Links open in a new tab.
Standards and official sources
- NIST Handbook 44: Specifications, Tolerances and Other Technical RequirementsNIST
- The International System of Units (SI Brochure)BIPM
- NIST SP 811: Guide for the Use of the International System of UnitsNIST
- 21 CFR 101.9: Nutrition labeling of foodCornell Law School LII
- Weights and Measures Act 1985legislation.gov.uk
Further reading
- US cupWikipedia
mL to cups FAQs
Short, exact answers to what people ask most.
How many mL are in a cup?
A US customary cup is 236.5882365 mL, usually rounded to 236.6 mL or 237 mL. A metric cup is exactly 250 mL.
How many cups is 250 mL?
250 mL is 1.0567 US cups, a little more than 1 cup. It is exactly 1 metric cup.
How many cups is 500 mL?
500 mL is 2.1134 US cups, about 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons, or exactly 2 metric cups.
Is a cup 240 mL or 250 mL?
Both are used. 240 mL is the US legal cup on nutrition labels, 250 mL is the metric cup in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and the US customary cup in recipes is 236.59 mL.
How many cups are in a liter?
One liter is 4.2268 US cups, or exactly 4 metric cups.
How many mL is half a cup?
Half a US cup is 118.29 mL, about 118 mL. Half a metric cup is 125 mL.
How many cups is 100 mL?
100 mL is 0.4227 US cups, a little less than half a cup. In metric cups it is exactly 0.4 cups.
How many cups is 200 mL?
200 mL is 0.8454 US cups, about ¾ cup plus 1½ tablespoons. It is 0.8 metric cups.
How many cups is 750 mL?
750 mL, a standard wine bottle, is 3.1701 US cups, just over 3 cups.
How many cups is 1,500 mL?
1,500 mL (1.5 liters) is 6.3401 US cups, or exactly 6 metric cups.
How many cups is 125 mL?
125 mL is 0.5283 US cups, slightly more than ½ cup. It is exactly half a metric cup.
How many cups is 300 mL?
300 mL is 1.268 US cups, about 1¼ cups.
Related conversions
US cup and fluid ounce from NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C; the milliliter from the BIPM SI Brochure and NIST SP 811; the 240 mL label cup from FDA rule 21 CFR 101.9; the imperial pint from the UK Weights and Measures Act 1985. Last updated . How we verify our numbers.